Updating Jokes for Modern Sensibilities

[hazzychan]

The issue I have is: where is the line?
I mean, there have been jokes that rubbed me the wrong way according to my own opinions/beliefs/sensibilities. But what should I do? Complain? Ask them to sanitize their act? It seems like certain types of people get protected classes.

Nearly every joke is at someone else's expense. Heavyweight people, dumb people, ugly people, alcoholics, old people, young people, bad singers, bad actors, religious jokes, cultural jokes, accents, southern people, etc. etc. etc.

But the rainbow crowd = watch out, you'll be labeled 'transphobic' and asked to censor your material.

It literally is transphobic, you fucking dunce. I LOVE their matrix riffs if you can exclude the transphobic lines. It's not about who is personally offended, it's about "jokes" not being jokes, but just digs at people existing.

Just grow the fuck up, you piece of shit.

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Modern progressives = If Pol Pot shopped on etsy.

ebook burning

How can people learn from their mistakes, and the mistakes of others, if all evidence of those mistakes gets erased?

Huey Long was on the money, back in 1935.

Your side literally took over the capitol building to install a dictator. Eat all of the shit.

stormium edited Dec 25, 2021 21:55 pm this post because: the topic is: Updating Jokes for Modern Sensibilities, not attacking other users. if you can’t post responsibility, you should refrain from posting.

[MalakJoe]

It's not about who is personally offended, it's about "jokes" not being jokes, but just digs at people existing.

Many jokes (if not most) are at someone's expense. 
The other types of riffs are references that are amusing when juxtaposed to the situation.

But jokes are supposed to be taken lightly and unseriously so that the humor in a situation or predicament can be seen.

When does a joke become not a joke? It seems to me that happens when enough of or the right kind of people get offended.
Who is the one who decides that a joke is no longer a joke?

Notoriously, Joe Don Baker didn't like MST3K's jokes about him and his weight. But that just caused people to double down on them. They joked about his behavior, but also his appearance. No one is rushing to JDB's defense or any of the other people who were joked about specifically because of how they looked. 

When does a joke about someone because they look like they could be a person who is trans become a greater sin than a joke about someone because they look overweight or unattractive?

[RealPaigeWWE]

Jimmy Carr: His Dark Material just came out on Netflix. In it, he reminds people that a joke about a rape and a rape are two very different things. He hopes, or he's in big trouble.

99 percent of the jokes in that special would need to be censored out of the special so as to not offend people. Then, probably the other one percent would have to be just in case.

Someone going back and censoring their own material is their right. It's their material. But it ends with us all burning every book ever written and music being illegal.

My only relief is that my poor eating habits SHOULD have me dead before we get to the point when stand-up comedy is viewed the way witchcraft was viewed in the 1600s.

My final thought for this particular thread. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and any other holidays they celebrated at the time. And here's hoping 2022 isn't so bad that we can't laugh a little.

[MalakJoe]

And here's hoping 2022 isn't so bad that we can't laugh a little.

Agreed. We've joked our way through the pandemic (to relieve stress or to point out our frustrations), I suspect that tradition will continue.

Is there such a thing as "Too soon?" Probably. But the phrase suggests that eventually jokes will be made about it, no matter what is it.

Merry late-December Wintertide and jolly nonspecific holiday greetings to you all.

[Miss Martian]

"When does a joke become not a joke? It seems to me that happens when enough of or the right kind of people get offended.
Who is the one who decides that a joke is no longer a joke?"

It's real simple:

Making fun of someone's behaviour is okay.

Making fun of someone's physical characteristics or their identity (gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background) is NOT okay.
(for further clarification - being "black" or "white" is not a cultural identity. Those are physical characteristics. But being irish or italian swedish or american or canadian etc is.)

That's it. You people keep acting like this is a difficult concept, when it couldn't be simpler. Kindergardeners can understand this extremely basic concept. This isn't some slippery slope. The line is clear and distinct. Stop acting like this is some great philosophical debate.

And don't act like you don't understand the difference between making fun of THE BEHAVIOR of people in positions of power, and making fun of someone FOR not fitting in.

BEING CRUEL ISN'T FUNNY. It's that simple.
(If you DO think cruelty is funny, you MAY want to consult a trained mental health professional about therapy).

Thank You and Happy Boxing Day!

PS - I personally find some of rifftrax jokes about southerners to be in poor taste as well. If you find some of those jokes to be offensive, write Bill and let him know...OR... if you don't mind them making fun of people - then DON'T write them and DON'T let them know. Entirely up to you. Buuuuuut..... You don't get to complain about them making fun of group X, and then (in the same breath) say that you don't understand unfairly targeted humor, when it's clearly evident that you do.

[MalakJoe]

"When does a joke become not a joke? It seems to me that happens when enough of or the right kind of people get offended.
Who is the one who decides that a joke is no longer a joke?"

It's real simple:

Making fun of someone's behaviour is okay.

Making fun of someone's physical characteristics or their identity (gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background) is NOT okay.
(for further clarification - being "black" or "white" is not a cultural identity. Those are physical characteristics. But being irish or italian swedish or american or canadian etc is.)

That's it. You people keep acting like this is a difficult concept, when it couldn't be simpler. Kindergardeners can understand this extremely basic concept. This isn't some slippery slope. The line is clear and distinct. Stop acting like this is some great philosophical debate.

And don't act like you don't understand the difference between making fun of THE BEHAVIOR of people in positions of power, and making fun of someone FOR not fitting in.

Intersectionality is not the only way to view the world. It clear to me that because you yourself identify as transgender that you're a bit biased in the discussion. 

It's also pretty clear that you believe your worldview is the correct one. That's cool, you probably should believe that, but everyone doesn't have to agree with you. And I don't. 

Rifftrax, simply put, seems to want to make sure whatever sense of humor they appeal to is the one that will sell the most. God bless capitalism, that's what they probably should be doing. 

If and when their jokes stop being funny to me, I'll move on. The act is starting to get old as it is and it has little to do with changing jokes. Regardless, I'm not interested in having them change their act that appease me.

Also starting to get old? This repeating conversation. We're not going to change each other's minds. I think I'll expend my energy elsewhere. 

Peace.

[Miss Martian]

Me: "Being cruel isn't funny"

Malak: I have a different worldview.

I would never say my worldview is the "correct" one. I could never be that conceited. But I'd rather be able to clear the lowest bar of human decency, than to be a complete sociopath devoid of any compassion. So yes, by all means keep being the current day living personification of Ebeneezer Scrooge. You have your twisted selfish way of viewing the world and I'll have my weird empathic way of looking at things. Neither is "right", but I'm pretty sure I'd rather fall on the side of the Tiny Tims of this world.

Happy Boxing Day!

PS - I was biased this way loooong before I transitioned.

[enyalep]

it's not that you're not supposed to make gay/trans jokes, it's don't make ignorant jokes in bad taste about anybody! when magneto is floating across his prison chasm in X2 and kevin is going "gay gay gay gay gay" that is an example of not making any sort of clever joke in good taste that everyone can enjoy, rather it is more along the lines of you may as well just be pointing at them and using the word f*gg*t. if ian mckellen was a well-known jewish person, and had curly sideburns and a brooklyn accent, and kevin's joke had been "jew jew jew jew jew", would that have been considered a modernly acceptable non-bigoted jew joke? u see how that's the same thing, right? it’s not about jumping on some leftie rainbow bandwagon, it’s simply about not being an asshole!

it’s strange having to explain this, as tho avid fans of comedy don’t know how jokes work; it’s like u r just fighting for your right to be an asshole. it’s like if this were a different time and place, one in which it was still socially acceptable to assholishly punch down on black ppl, you’d be fussing over changing jokes stereotypically mimicking the voice of a black person or some other incarnation of the Dumbo crows, or super off-color jokes about phrenology, if not outright using the n-word or various other slurs, and fighting for your right to keep doing all that. just don’t be an asshole, and don’t jump on your high horse like society being less accepting of assholism than it once was is such a human rights violation! (as tho u lot fighting for your right-to-asshole have any idea what it’s like to actually have your human rights violated).**

** oh wait i forgot u had to get vaccines and that's like the holocaust right?

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also LOL @ myself for over 20 edits

[Miss Martian]

^^^ THIS

[MalakJoe]

I acquiesce to you both as you are clearly my moral and intellectual superiors.